What is wellbeing?

A set of five interconnected and universal needs and experiences that are essential, in combination, for health and hope. FFI calls them the Five Domains of Wellbeing. We all seek progress for ourselves and our loved ones in each of these domains in ways that don’t create havoc in other parts of our life.

We all seek to be in relationships where we get and give value, to feel a sense of belonging to things bigger than us (social connectedness). We need to know that core parts of our identity don’t expose us to danger or hatred (safety). We need to know there are rhythms in our days we can count on, and things that are familiar as we navigate the new (stability). We need to be in spaces and places where we can see that our actions and our work matter: that we have impact and can shape our future, our relationships, our environment (mastery). We need to be able to meet our and our children’s needs for food, clothing, shelter, school, health care and more, without shame, danger or inordinate difficulty (meaningful access to relevant resources).

Wellbeing and the Full Frame Approach

Relationships, communities and institutions that operate from the values and principles of the Full Frame Approach create the conditions that enable each of us to achieve wellbeing. These social structures are in contrast to those that reinforce inequity and undermine individual and collective wellbeing. The Full Frame Approach is a set of principles and practices that our research has found to be the key elements shared by organizations most effective in working with highly marginalized people—people experiencing multiple challenges (e.g., homelessness, addiction, abuse, mental illness, etc.) in a context of entrenched poverty, violence and oppression. The principles below are excerpted from The Full Frame Approach 2.0: Place + Approach + Leadership.

Principles of the Full Frame Approach

Principle 1: Life is messy: People’s vulnerabilities and strengths—both personal and contextual—interact in complex and unexpected ways, such that the interplay among issues and context needs to be addressed in concert with the issues themselves.

Principle 2: Friends and family matter: Relationships and role definitions are central for all of us and therefore need to be honored and respected, whether they are causing difficulties, providing support, or some of each.

Principle 3: Through thick and thin and difference: Supporting individuals and communities in envisioning, attempting and realizing new possibilities requires starting with and respecting what matters to people, and then relentlessly sticking with them.

Principle 4: Be a community within the community, not an alternative to the larger community: The human need to feel part of something where one can have impact and legacy is universal and is a necessary element in personal and community growth and sustained change. Full Frame Interventions are a community in addition to others in people’s lives, rather than requiring people leave their community to participate.

Principle 5: Place matters: Organizational history is informed by and intertwined with that of an organization’s community, and its ability to impact individuals and families requires it be a force for good in the larger community, bridging to and building resources that benefit those who may never participate in the organization.

Principle 6: Some of the best work happens in the gray areas: Hold complexity without being paralyzed by it.

Principle 7: Change is good: Continually learn and evolve in concert with changes and opportunities in the community, in every relationship with participants, and in how participants and the organization and the community interact.

Principle 8: It only works with the right people working: Carefully select and support staff because this work is not for everyone and not everyone can or should do this work. Even the right people need tremendous support to do this work.

Principle 9: Be accountable: Pay attention to a wide range of indicators to ensure that the work being done is generating real, sustained results.

Principle 10: Leadership matters: Continuously foster and exert leadership, within the organization and the community.

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Nine years ago, the Full Frame Initiative (FFI) was founded out of hope for what could beand frustration about what is. To this day, we stay centered on a central question: what if our service systems … Read More...

Statement on Equity and Social Justice

We believe equity and social justice are necessary for wellbeing--the needs and experiences required for health and hope. People experience barriers to wellbeing based on race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, and other identities. In particular, racism is a key part of what keeps inequity alive in the United States. We believe that increasing access to wellbeing is necessary to end racism and advance racial equity. We are committed to addressing issues of racial and social equity in all our work.